Westlake Palms Is a Strip Center Built for Five-Minute Stops

On Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, between Orangetheory Fitness and Tractor Supply Co., there is a low building with a lot of glass that the local blog Westlake Wanderer calls "airport-looking." Two parking spaces out front are marked for five minutes. One space is set aside for golf carts. A sculpture called "Fresh Burst" by Mark Fuller Functional Arts stands outside as part of the city's Art in Public Places program. This is Westlake Palms. You can learn a lot about where Westlake's retail is heading from the businesses that chose to lease here.

The center has seven bays at 4931 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, and none of them is a big-box anchor or a sit-down restaurant. It has a haircut, an eye exam, a donation drop-off and a café counter. With Walmart and a regional Lowe's still on the way, the stops filling in along this road are the errands that used to require a drive out of the city.

A small building on purpose

Westlake Palms is a 10,400-square-foot strip on a 1.3-acre site that Westlake Palms LLC bought from Minto Communities, the city's master developer. City planning records place it in Westlake Landings Parcel F1, west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. Cars get in from Landings Drive.

The bays are small, from 1,305 to 1,648 square feet each. The site has 48 parking spaces, two EV charging stations and a bike rack. A building with units that size and that much parking suits tenants whose customers stay for 20 minutes, not two hours. Westlake Wanderer reported the center fully leased on July 22, 2026.

Here is how the bays have filled, based on the most recent local reporting:

Goodwill takes two of the seven bays. Health care and personal care take most of the rest. Coffee was the last of the leases to show up on the outside of the building.

The drop-off that got the five-minute spaces

Goodwill's unit here is a donation drop-off only. It does not sell anything. Westlake Wanderer reported the two five-minute parking spaces in front of it in July, before it opened, and noted that someone had planned ahead.

People have used it. In a September 30 WPTV report, the center had taken in more than 600 pounds of donations in just over a month after its August opening. Goodwill's vice president of operations, Brady O'Neil, told the station the community's response had exceeded expectations. WPTV listed the hours as 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

As the holidays get closer and closets get cleared out, having a drop-off inside city limits saves a trip.

Appointments instead of browsing

The other tenants run on appointments, and that is part of the pattern. A barber and an eye care office bring the same customers back on a schedule, and those customers park, go in and leave.

Junior's Barbershop & Co. opened first, with a grand opening on June 25, 2026. At that time it posted hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Westlake Eye Care is in Suite 1300. Its website lists hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. It is closed Friday and Sunday. If your week runs on a Friday errand day, plan around that.

The glass-enclosed end unit, the most prominent space in the building, has been reported as the future home of a pediatric dentist. That fits the rest of the building: a medical-office tenant in the space a restaurant might have wanted.

Ella Cafe's sign, and the smallest bay

Ella Cafe had signage up at Westlake Palms by Oct. 8. Its unit is between Westlake Eye Care and the Goodwill Donation Center. From the outside, Westlake Wanderer described the space as "teeny tiny" and asked readers whether other Ella Cafe locations are usually that small. Ella Cafe's website lists locations in Plantation, Davie, Boynton Beach and Coral Springs.

A café sized like that is meant for coffee on the way to somewhere else, and it fits the rest of the center. Earlier plans for the site also had a café among its first tenants.

The golf cart space, and the road it faces

The marked golf cart space reflects how many people in Westlake get around. City rules on where carts may go are specific. The City of Westlake's golf cart page says the city's ordinance was amended on Oct. 3, 2023, to comply with Florida Statute 316.212. It lists these streets as off-limits to golf carts:

• Seminole Pratt Whitney Road
• 60th Street
• Portions of Town Center Parkway East
• Persimmon Boulevard east of Ilex Way
• Sycamore Drive West

Westlake Palms faces Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, the first street on that list, and its vehicle entrance is on Landings Drive. In its July post on the center, Westlake Wanderer wrote that it remembered the roadside sidewalk being planned at multimodal width, with a ramp to the golf cart space, and that it would ask about it at the August meeting.

The same pattern up and down the road

Westlake Palms is one of three centers on the corridor adding errand stops this year. In its mid-year roundup, Westlake Wanderer listed them in order of arrival.

1. Grove Market, also called the Aldi Plaza: Dollar Tree announced a grand opening for Thursday, Aug. 6, at 8 a.m. Chase Bank was also headed there. According to the October City Council recap, Chase asked for sign waivers and was aiming to open by the end of October.
2. Westlake Palms: the barber, eye care office, drop-off, café and dentist described above.
3. The Publix plaza: Cold Stone Creamery is expected in the Publix building by the end of 2026, and in August Mavis Tires & Brakes was "going vertical fast."

A discount store, a bank branch, a tire shop, an ice cream counter, a barber and an optometrist have one thing in common. Each handles a short, repeat trip. The roundup put the larger projects, a Lowe's described as a regional flagship and a Walmart, on a longer timeline. WPTV described the Walmart site as 24 acres at Town Center West, near Seminole Pratt Whitney Road and 60th Street North, next to the Lowe's site. Until those stores are built, the city's day-to-day convenience is coming from bays of about 1,500 square feet.

Where to be on Saturday, Dec. 5

The city's holiday event is also outdoors, free and set up for a quick visit. The City of Westlake's 5th Annual Holiday Market runs Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Future Seminole Improvement District Park, just south of Seminole Ridge High School. The city's announcement lists local vendors selling gifts and handmade items, food trucks, a snow globe experience and photos with Santa. Admission and parking are free. Businesses that want to take part as vendors or sponsors can email [email protected] or call the city at (561) 530-5880.

A new barber, an eye care office and a drop-off near your street can also affect what buyers see in your location. If you'd like to know how the businesses filling in along Seminole Pratt Whitney Road might factor into your home's value, Janet Cordero can walk you through it. Request Your Free Home Valuation.